tips for a recent switcher

[jhomayne]

i only recently took delivery of my lurvely new iBook and i have had great fun working through my cd and photo collection and lovingly arranging them perfectly in itunes and iphoto and i swear even if the ibook didn't work i'd prefer it over a pc laptop anyday even if i could only look at it!

anyway, my point being, i was wondering if there are any "recommended" first steps for a mac newbie (regarding system prefs. appearance. programs to acquire. etc) as i did a little searchy but couldn't find much.

any help much appreciated. :)

james

*apologies in advance if this has to be moved*

[vraxtus]

i only recently took delivery of my lurvely new iBook and i have had great fun working through my cd and photo collection and lovingly arranging them perfectly in itunes and iphoto and i swear even if the ibook didn't work i'd prefer it over a pc laptop anyday even if i could only look at it!

anyway, my point being, i was wondering if there are any "recommended" first steps for a mac newbie (regarding system prefs. appearance. programs to acquire. etc) as i did a little searchy but couldn't find much.

any help much appreciated. :)

james

*apologies in advance if this has to be moved*


There's a lot out there GUI adjustment wise... check out www.macupdate.com for downloads.

I'd recommend a few cool iTunes visuals and maybe some nice backgrounds from wallpaper.deviantart.com.

If you are using a multi-login you can change the background image at the login screen by replacing a file called "Aqua Blue.jpg" in your Library->Desktop Pictures directory.

[jhomayne]

aha! i was hoping that there was something more interesting than the standard itunes visual out there! ;)

[vraxtus]

aha! i was hoping that there was something more interesting than the standard itunes visual out there! ;)


Geforce and Whitecap are the most well know... I actually found some pretty cool ass ones though... I can't remember the names offhand but one looks like a glowing tube and the other is somewhat like a LED sound monitor except there are no trails on the LED so it looks somewhat like "stairs".

[virividox]

get vlc to play certain media files

cocktail for maintenance

[mac_gal]

What kinds of things are you looking for exactly?

For instant messaging, I'd go with Proteus.
www.proteusx.com (http://www.proteusx.com)

[jhomayne]

What kinds of things are you looking for exactly?

For instant messaging, I'd go with Proteus.
www.proteusx.com (http://www.proteusx.com)
nothing in particular really..

just things like 'for this activity, use this program' and stuff

[Nspace]

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459

/\ some keyboard shortcuts to get to know :D

[Whigga Spitta]

Since you enjoy the appearance of your iBook so much, may i suggest ClearDock? A great GUI mod which I install on every Mac I work with (although I too am a recent switcher). ClearDock is more OS X-like than the standard Apple setup.

[sinisterdesign]

i clicked on this forum b/c i was going to offer some sage advice to a new member of the Mac family, instead i got some good little suggestions. for some reason, i hadn't installed the ClearDock haxie, even though i use ShapeShifter (that's lots of fun if you haven't tried it yet). also, the VLC app is a nice little video player. i had been using MPlayer a lot lately, but VLC is very responsive, especially when resizing.

ok, here are my additions:

http://www.iconfactory.com/ – icons out the wazoo

http://blog.wired.com/cultofmac/ – daily blog that just makes you proud to be a Mac user (see today's blog on why Mac users are smarter, written by a Linux guy)

http://www.resexcellence.com/ – everything you need to trick out your iBook (go get Shapeshifter and visit the 'themes' section)

http://www.ipodlounge.com/ – if you didn't get one w/ your iBook, do not pass go, go directly to your local Apple Store. you won't regret it.

http://www.panic.com/ – these guys just write great little apps (and beautifully designed interfaces. wow, that new 'drag & download' feature is pretty cool. never seen it b4)

have fun w/ those & have fun w/ that iBook...